Dante's Hidden Sin - Wrath

80 Pages·2017·11.02 MB·English

DDoommiinniiccaann SScchhoollaarr
Graduate Master's Theses, Capstones,
Student Scholarship
and Culminating Projects
5-2016
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Michael J. Rupers
Dominican University of California
https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.hum.01
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Recommended Citation
Rupers, Michael J., "Dante’s Hidden Sin - Wrath: How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno
Against Contemporaries" (2016). Graduate Master's Theses, Capstones, and Culminating
Projects. 214.
https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.hum.01
This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at
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Dante’s Hidden Sin:
Wrath

How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries

by
Michael Rupers

A culminating thesis submitted to the faculty of Dominican University of California in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Humanities
San Rafael, California

May 2016
This thesis, written under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor and approved by
the department chair, has been presented to and accepted by the Department of
Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.
The content and research presented in this work represent the work of the candidate
alone.
Michael Rupers May 2016
Candidate
Joan Baranow, Ph.D. May 2016
MAH Program Director
Sister Aaron Winkelman, Ph.D., Professor Emerita (English) May 2016
Thesis Advisor
Leslie Ross, Ph.D., Professor (Art History) May 2016
Secondary Thesis Advisor
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Copyright @ 2016 by Michael Rupers
All Rights Reserved
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Contemporaries of Dante in The Inferno ……………….……… 1
Pope Celestine V ……………………………………………………………….. 19
Filippo Argenti …………………………………………………………………. 21
Farinata degli Uberti …………………………………………………………… 24
Cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubaldini …………………………………………… 26
Bologna: Venedico Caccianemico …………………………………………….. 28
Popes: Nicholas III, Boniface VIII, Clement V ……………………………….. 30
Cante de' Gabrielli ……………………………………………………………… 33
Pistoia: Vanni Fucci ………………………………………………………….… 35
Florence: Cianfa Donati, Agnolo Brunelleschi, Buoso degli Abati,
Francesco Cavalcanti, Puccio Sciancato ……………..………….. 37
Guido da Montefeltro …………………………………………………….….….. 40
,
Siena: Griffolino d’Arezzo, Capocchio, Giovanni Stricca Niccolo
Salimbeni, Caccia d’Asciano, “Abbagliato” dei Folcacchieri ………..…… 43
Bocca Degli Abati ………………………………………………………………… 46
Pisa: Count Ugolino della Gherardesca, Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini … 49
Genoa: Fra Alberigo, Branca d’Oria …………………………………………… 53
Conclusion ………………………………………………………….…………… 56
Addendum ……………………………………………………….……………… 64
Bibliography & Notes …………………………………………………………… 69
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Abstract
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) takes his readers on a pilgrimage through
what he calls the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso (ostensibly Hell, Purgatory and
Heaven) in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, originally titled Commedia. This paper
concentrates exclusively on Dante’s contemporaries, those people who lived
during his lifetime, and examines his possible motivation for targeting enemy
Ghibellines, Black Guelphs, treacherous White Guelphs, corrupt popes, and
others who either crossed him or caused him trouble. He vindictively used his
masterpiece to lash out at his contemporary enemies, exacting retribution against
many who angered him in his lifetime or otherwise offended his religious, political,
civic or personal sensibilities, thus revealing a hidden sin, Wrath. Dante deviously
groups contemporary characters in such a way as to arrive at a larger and more
sinister point, that people from Bologna, Pistoia, Siena, Pisa, Genoa and even his
beloved Florence, should be reviled or exterminated. He vindictively roots for
ethnic cleansing. The lower construction of Dante’s Hell appears to have little to
do with Christian theology but, rather, is a contrivance to house his detested
enemies and give him personal revenge. Dante’s wrath for his contemporaries may
have inspired much of the Inferno, making the poem far less Divine.
"V
Acknowledgements
At first it seems a daunting task to read Dante’s Divine Comedy. I was
fortunate to have Sister Aaron Winkelman, Ph.D., Professor Emerita at
Dominican University of California, as my instructor. She brought Dante’s epic
poem to life and challenged her students to perform their own interpretation. This
is the end result of that challenge and I am very grateful for it. As well, Sister
Aaron’s academic guidance on this paper proved critical.
I was fortunate to enlist as my secondary advisor Professor Leslie Ross,
Ph.D., who is an expert of Art History at Dominican University of California.
Professor Ross encouraged the inclusion of Inferno art, especially Gustave Doré,
which helped tell the story still better. As well, Professor Ross’ attention to
grammatical detail was extremely helpful and I am very thankful.
You never know when a seed has been planted. My late father, Ronald H.
Rupers, used to say, “You’re under no obligation to tell on yourself.” Those words
of advice popped into my head when I heard Dante admit to only two sins, Lust
and Pride. It caused me to consider whether Dante similarly felt no obligation to
tell on himself. Wrath seemed the obvious Dante hidden sin. Like so many other
things in my life, I have my funny and intellectually curious Dad to thank for
keeping my eyes and ears open. 

"VI
Dante’s Hidden Sin: 

Wrath

How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries
Introduction

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) takes his readers on a
pilgrimage through what he calls the Inferno, Purgatorio and
Paradiso (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) in his epic poem The
Divine Comedy, originally titled Commedia.1 Dante completed
it in 1321, shortly before his untimely death in Ravenna,
Italy, probably of malaria. Unbelievably, Dante placed
University of Bologna
2007: Reconstruction of
nearly seventy contemporaries in Hell, vindictively using
Dante Alighieri face.
his epic poem to lash out at his enemies, exacting
retribution against many who angered him in his lifetime or otherwise offended
his religious, political, civic or personal sensibilities, thus revealing his hidden sin,
Wrath. This paper concentrates exclusively on Dante’s contemporaries, those
characters who lived during his life-time, and it examines his possible motivation
for placing the more egregious in Hell.
Dante scholars more commonly analyze The Divine Comedy from a poetic,
philosophical, theoretical, cultural and historical perspective. It is one of the richest
"1
intellectual books ever written. The verse and terza rima scheme (aba bcb cdc … yzy) of
the entire 14,233 line Divine Comedy was innovative. By choosing the common Italian
vernacular over the more refined Latin, Dante helped popularize and define the Italian
language. He is to the Italian language what Shakespeare is to English. Many scholars
have noted that if the scriptures or Bible were ever lost or destroyed, many of its main
tenets and most notable stories could be reconstructed by reading The Divine Comedy. The
same can be said for history, philosophy and literature. It is such a breathtaking
masterpiece that Dante has few peers, perhaps only Homer, Virgil, and Shakespeare
worthy of the club. While it is easy to become enamored with the intellectual weight and
literary accomplishment of The Divine Comedy, we take pause here to consider that it also
served the author’s mean spirited personal vendetta against his enemies. Analyzed here is
the author’s possibly nefarious motivation behind major sections of his epic poem.
It wasn’t until 1440 that the Gutenberg Printing Press was invented in
Europe, which means there were no newspapers to speak of at the time of Dante’s
writing in early 14th century Italy. Publishing anything at all was extremely
difficult and not readily accessible to the common man. The few poets and writers
able to publish largely controlled the historical record and reputations of their
subjects. Little recourse was available to most people portrayed negatively in any
sort of publication. They had to endure criticism without commensurate response.
According to Merriam-Webster, a “contemporary” is defined as one
“existing or occurring at the same period of time.” This paper includes people
living during or after the year of Dante Alighieri’s birth in 1265. The fifty year
period prior to that is noteworthy for its effect on Florentine politics and Dante’s
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family in particular. Dante places many of those characters in Hell, but they are
omitted here because technically they were not his contemporaries. The line is
drawn at 1265. Identified and analyzed in this paper are those contemporaries of
Dante seemingly included for primarily spiteful reasons.
Unquestionably, Dante understood the power he had as a writer over his
subjects and used it to his full advantage to defame or humiliate those
contemporaries toward whom he felt special animus. Dante’s genius was that he
could weave into his epic tale vengeful stories about people he hated and make it
seem normal, almost as if they had it coming. Imagine being the only blogger on
the internet? That only your opinion of others counted? That almost nobody
could protest anything you wrote? That is the kind of power Dante possessed with
his epic poem and he was sure to swing hard.
Compare what Dante does to his contemporaries in Hell to the movie,
Dirty Harry, where an otherwise good cop exacts vigilante style justice to bad guys
simply because he can. Dante is a literary Dirty Harry, taking personal liberty to
throw scores of contemporaries in Hell, wreaking ingenious havoc with them
because he can. You might think “good for him,” or you could just as easily think
he was a contemptibly obnoxious individual. This paper assumes the latter.
Dante confesses to Beatrice Portinari, his idolized perfect woman he loved
since childhood, to only two sins: Lust and Pride. He does not really tell on
himself. Dante shields Beatrice and his readers from his real problem, the one that
probably extended his exile for the duration of his life. He admits nothing about
his incredible anger, his Wrath. He had been disingenuous with Beatrice and had
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